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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29337756">Crystal Eye</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheManiaac/pseuds/TheManiaac'>TheManiaac</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, Demons, Drug Use, Fantasy, Fiction, Gen, Mild Blood, Mythical Beings &amp; Creatures, On Hiatus, Swearing, Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:13:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,500</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29337756</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheManiaac/pseuds/TheManiaac</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where crystals are found everywhere, and theorized to be the cause behind many zany events and concepts from our imagination becoming their reality, a boy and girl form an exploration team to discover the truth behind the crystals, and have some fun along the way!</p><p>Manga inspired, be ready for long story arcs and battles. Main series.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Minor or Background Relationship(s), Potential Original Characters - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. This World's Wonders</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Please read the full episode before viewing end notes. They contain spoilers.</p><p>Mainly inspired by Eiichiro Oda's One Piece and Yūki Tabata's Black Clover, along with other apparent inspirations you may come across.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The soccer ball bounced up and down on the young boy's knee.<br/> "How much longer?" he asked the girl he was walking with.<br/> She pulled out a map. The boy peered over her shoulder.<br/> "Not too long." The girl pointed at the map, then moved her finger up slowly, showing the boy their walking path. "We just entered the woods. We got a bit more walking to do."<br/> "But, Celia, weren't we supposed to take a left there?" He pointed at a giant tree at the center. Celia took another look at the map.<br/> "Dammit!"</p><p>Crystal Eye<br/>By TheManiaac<br/>Episode 1: This World's Wonders</p><p>- Akala Town<br/>The duo had finally made it to the town. They looked around in awe, seeing ninjas train, run about, and even just hanging out. Suddenly, a cloud of smoke materialized in front of them. The two gave a shout of surprise as it happened, and a voice emerged.<br/> "Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to scare y'all. I take it you're the ones that took our request?" It was a young looking ninja, his full face showing revealing his seemingly dyed yellow hair. He had scratch marks on his face.<br/> "You'd be right," the boy said. "I'm Zach. This is my friend Celia." He motioned his elbow in her direction. She stepped forwards.<br/> "I had no idea there was a town this way. It's not even on the map," she noted, waving the map at no one in particular, then began folding it.<br/> "I could show you around a bit! Oh, and the name's Eta," the ninja proposed with a smile. As Eta reached his hand out to shake with Zach, he coughed hard.<br/> Celia looked up, and Zach reached out to Eta. "Woah, you okay?"<br/> Eta coughed once more. "I'll live. Not sure if I can give a full tour though." He was now hunched over, hands on his knees.<br/> "This has to do with your request about the bird," Celia stated more than asked.<br/> "Yeah," Eta answered anyways, "Follow me. I can lead you to the village elder, he can tell you more about this situation.<br/> Zach and Celia exchanged glances, then followed the ninja into town. They observed that, close up, one could tell that the other ninjas also had dyed hair. Celia reasonably noted that it must have something to do with this town's culture. They crossed over a bridge, which Zach peeked over the side with interest, searching for fish hidden in the river.<br/> Eta stopped at a small hut and motioned for the two of them to enter. Celia nodded and began to motion Zach over, until she realized he wasn't at the bridge anymore.<br/> "Eh?" she wondered out loud. She soon noticed the green haired ninja and red haired ninja shouting and pointing at the creek.<br/> Eta spoke up. "Is that..?"<br/> "Unfortunately," Celia answered.</p><hr/><p> It was clear that the situation the village was in wasn't ideal. Despite being filled to the brim with ninjas, everyone was seemingly injured. The hut Eta brought Zach and Celia into seemed to be the equivalent of an infirmary. Many people donned regular clothing, some wore white gowns and were lying down on floor mats.<br/> "Woah," Zach said to himself, astonished by the sheer amount of injured people. The weight of the situation hit close to home when he noticed a young girl running up to one of the mats.<br/> "Papa.. please.. stay with me.." she tearfully plead. Celia stayed silent for a moment, sneaking a peak over at Zach, in sudden realization. He clenched his fist, and got lost in thought.<br/> "The elder is in the room to the left," Eta announced, snapping him back to reality.<br/> "A-alright. Let's go."<br/> Upon opening the door, a small chamber presented itself. It held nothing but a window, a fancy table, a lamp, and the door the two had entered from. The elder stood at the window, looking at something outside with an intense stare. His hair was covered by a hood. Celia knocked on the door to alert him of their presence, but he stood still.<br/> "Sit down," the elder told the two. They followed his command.<br/> "Since you now see why we decided to call on an exploration team to help us with this, I will cut to the chase." Zach and Celia both winced at being called an exploration team, but it went unnoticed.<br/> "<em>We need that money to become an exploration team, Zach</em>," he reminded himself.<br/> "There is a giant bird creature called a Roc that has recently made a nest nearby. It constantly flies over our village and attacks the creatures we hunt down for its own personal use," the elder started. He began walking towards the mahogany table.<br/> "Not only are our warriors worn down from attempts to repel the beast, but our stock on food is running dry. Setting up a garden would only attract the Roc directly to our town. That is why we decided to call an exploration team to come help... though I can't say I expected only two members to come." The elder sat down, opposite side of the table, with the two.<br/> Zach stood, and with a foot on the table, spoke heroically. "Don't worry sir. Crystal Eye will handle this!"<br/> The elder grabbed a cane out of the corner of the room with staggering speed, and whacked Zach's shin. "Off the table." He then shoved the foot off, causing Zach to lose balance and almost fall.<br/> "Ouch.." he said to himself. Celia chuckled.<br/> "What weapons do you plan on fighting the Roc with? We may supply you with a wide range of weapons." Again, very swiftly, the elder laid out multiple types of weapons; sais, nunchucks, swords both big and small, and more. Zach reached for an axe but Celia plucked his hand. She then pulled a rock out of her pocket, and when she crushed it, a bow with two crystals on its end and a quiver filled with colorfully tipped arrows emerged.<br/> "They have Carrien Rocks," the elder noted to himself. He watched as Zach did the same, with a sword with a hook shaped blade appearing too. The elder was shocked, sensing a cursed aura coming from the blade.<br/> "You don't have to worry about weapons," Celia said with a smile.<br/> "May I ask what curse has been put on that, young man?" the elder asked Zach.<br/> "You can sense it, huh?" Zach looked down at his choice of weapon and smiled. "Well, this blade.."</p><hr/><p> Celia previewed the cliffside. There was a lone, giant branch sticking out from the side and on it was an equally as giant nest. <br/> "Found the nest. This must be where the Roc lives. So why does it fly west?" she thought aloud. As if on que, the wind picked up heavily. She looked to her left, putting gloves on and preparing her bow and arrow. She watched the pink leaves of the trees sway backwards, and a giant brown figure emerged from the trees. It overlooked Celia and landed on its nest.<br/> Celia took a white tipped arrow from her quiver, aimed at the ground with her bow and shot. She quickly jumped forward, and a mountain of ice sprung out from the arrow's tip, propelling her into the air. The Roc didn't have time to react; as it noticed her flying forwards, she shot a large arrow, setting ablaze the bird's chest. The Roc flew from its nest and began flapping its wings fast enough to create strong gusts of wind.<br/> Celia, still midair, panicked at the lack of things to grab before she laid eyes on the nest. She sheathed her bow and reached her arms our in time to grab on to the nest. The Roc shrieked at this, causing woodland creatures naive enough to hang around the battlefield to flee.<br/> Before this, Zach was west of Celia's location, and found himself face to face with a gigantic tree, not unlike the one he passed before entering town. It was a clearing in the forest, with berry bushes surrounding it. He backed up slowly, then positioned himself, ready to sprint. Before he broke away from this pose, he closed his eyes. Breathed in. Leaned forward just a smidgen more... and ran. The moment he ran and opened his eyes, they shone a sky blue fading into royal blue. He ran at a breathtaking pace, and when he got closer to the trunk of the tree, jumped. He gave himself just enough momentum to be able to reach the tree hollow. He grabbed on, and when he pulled himself up, discovered two giant eggs.<br/> "Nice trick," came a gruff voice back down below. Zach looked out expecting a ninja sent by Eta, but saw two goblins. One was extremely muscular and wielded a club, the other short but wielded two axes. "We'll be taking those eggs now. We need our breakfast." The voice belonged to the small goblin. <br/> "Yea!" The big one added on. Zach got ready to hop down from the tree.<br/> "Back off. These don't belong to you." He jumped down, and aimed his sword at the goblins.<br/> "What's that backscratcher going to do!?" the small one chuckled. "We've been taking those eggs for the past week and were here for the last two! You back off if you know what's good for you!"<br/> At that, Zach appeared right in front of the small goblin and kicked him, with enough strength and momentum combined to send the creature into a bush. The big goblin was slow to react, and that gave Zach enough time to slice the club in half.<br/> He wasn't sure why the Roc was flying between two points if the eggs were in this tree, but he wasn't going to let even more be stolen if that affected the case.<br/> The giant goblin reacted fast to this. With his other hand, he smacked Zach towards the bushes where the small goblin was.<br/> The little one jumped out a threw an axe at Zach, who was still midair from the impact. Zach tried to make his eyes glow again, but with nothing more than a flicker, he spun around and tried to knock the axe away with the sword. He failed, the axe knocking his sword out of his hand. He fell to the ground with a hard thud, right in front of the small goblin, who stomped on his head.<br/> "You got in over your head, runt," he shouted at Zach.<br/> "You're one to talk," he got out in between grunts of pain. He flipped up and punched the runt right on his nose.<br/> "OW! You piece of crap!" Zach saw his opportunity and ran, at a normal speed, to his sword. The big goblin was what stood between him and the weapon.<br/> "We are taking the last eggs! Move!" The big one swung what remained of his club at Zach, who simply rolled under it with ease and kept running.<br/> He reached his sword, grabbed it, and when he turned found the giant goblin charging at him. He stood in place, waiting for the right moment, then dodged to the side and tripped the goblin. <br/> "Too slow, buddy." Zach turned to face the small goblin, who was nowhere to be found.<br/> "Huh?" he thought aloud, and when he turned back saw the runt about to swing the thrown axe at his neck. Just then, a fist punched the goblin right in its cheek, knocking it down. Zach looked over and saw Eta and another ninja, colored blue, standing before him.<br/> "Thanks, I almost lost my head there," Zach said to Eta. A faint yellow glow came from the goblin, right where Eta punched it. Zach remained alert while the ninjas simply stood calm.<br/> "Is it healing?"<br/> "Nah. Stay calm," Eta reassured Zach. This was soon followed by the small goblin being propelled away again, as if the small yellow glowing spot had suddenly exploded.<br/> "Second Impact."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Crystal Eye Terms<br/>Carrien Rocks - small, easily breakable rocks that can absorb an object for easy transportation. Found in mountains and small caves with a medium rate of crystals. Sends the object out when the rock is crushed specifically from the top. One must be careful to not crush the rock accidentally when carrying any type of sharp object or weapon, in order to prevent an unfortunate event from unfolding.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Powers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> "What the..."<br/> Zach couldn't help but stare in awe at what had transpired.<br/>"Its my power. Inherited it from my parents. I call it Second Impact... the name explains itself," Eta explained.<br/> "Thats so cool! I've never seen a move like that before! And you even defeated the goblin!"<br/> "Don't celebrate too soon." Eta pointed at the giant goblin, who pulled put a large Carrien Rock. Zach and Eta both got prepared to continue to fight, while the blue ninja simply turned lazily.<br/> "You guys suck! Its time for plan three," the goblin announced.<br/> Zach put up two fingers and counted to himself with a smirk, mocking the goblin's lack of knowledge.<br/> "I know how to count!" With this, the goblin smashed the rock and a giant horn emerged. He picked it up and blew the horn, the sound silent.<br/> Suddenly, the ground began shaking. Goblins big and small flooded in from the pink forest, swiftly surrounding the trio.<br/> Zach silently swore.</p><p>Crystal Eye<br/>By TheManiaac </p><p> "Hah, the runt multiplied," joked Eta as he backed up. The trio eventually faced the large wave of enemies back to back.<br/> "I, uh, never caught your name." Zach looked at the blue ninja has he said this.<br/> "Thats Alpha. He's a silent type," Eta answered him.<br/> Alpha suddenly disappeared. A static formation in the shape of his body remained, then fazed away along with the rest of him. The goblins looked around in confusion.<br/> "Hmph, coward," one said.<br/> "Charge!" the goblin with the horn ordered. The army did so, leaving Eta and Zach in a predicament.<br/> "I can handle myself. Go!" Eta reassured Zach. He worriedly looked at the yellow ninja, but without much time left to argue, he broke away from him. Using his increased speed he slashed at a couple goblins headed his way. The blade pierced their skin, yet no blood surfaced. There wasn't a moment for the foes to be confused as the impact of the slice left them shaken, some being sent flying.<br/> Looking at his blade, he thought back to what he told the elder in the village.<br/><em> "Well, this blade... the curse that's on it removed the ability to deal major physical harm to anyone."</em><br/><em> The elder grunted in acknowledgement.</em><br/><em> "If the blade stabs someone, they won't bleed out. It'll just feel like they've been punched. The cut wound instantly heals. Or at least, thats what I am thinking. Not like I've fought a monster that could tell me."</em><br/> He had come to regret not testing it out on someone willing to train with him. Not even Celia wanted to try his hypothesis out.<br/> A yellow glow caught his attention. He was able to witness Eta's Second Impact again, and witnessed firsthand how much damage it could do. An entire wave of goblins was knocked away as he slammed his hands onto the ground, and the impact sent dirt and debris flying forwards.<br/> <em>"To be that strong someday...</em>" Zach thought to himself with a smile<br/> "You should be worried about yourself," came a voice. Zach swiveled and saw himself face to face with another giant goblin, wielding no weapons. Zach jumped and stabbed the beast's chest, but it didn't even flinch. The goblin then punted him across the clearing. The giant goblin who had summoned the others, now with another club likely brought by a minion, jumped to catch the sword wielding boy by his hood and threw him into the ground. He shouted in pain.<br/> Suddenly, a blue, static-like figure materialized behind the Clubber and tapped it's shoulder. When he turned, he was axe kicked. The figure revealed itself to be Alpha.<br/> In a fit of rage, the goblin swung at Alpha, who ducked and delivered a kick right to the goblin's soft spot. It bent over in pain, silently screaming. Alpha then walked over to Zach, who lied in the grass, conscious, but quiet.<br/> "I could have handled that," he joked to Alpha, who had reached his hand out to him. Zach took it, and pulled himself up.<br/> Eta was handling his own just like he said he would. He delivered a punch to the temple of a goblins head, and sent it spiraling into two others as a result of Second Impact. He sprung into the air and landed on top of another to catch it by surprise, and guided it to fall over on its comerades. A group of smaller ones realized his strategy, and waited until they saw an opening. Seconds later, they piled onto Eta causing him to collapse to the ground. <br/> They then delivered an onslaught of punches, kicks, and attacks from their weapons. As Eta began to bleed, a culmination of his injuries now and beforehand, he slammed his fist to the soil in last ditch effort. As that used the last of his strength, he passed out.<br/> The area around the goblins grew yellow, and it slowly spread across the clearing. Alpha and Zach both hesitated to save Eta, not wanting to be hit by the full force of the attack. Alpha pointed over to Eta and eyed Zach.<br/> "He's too far away, I can't make it in time even if these eyes of mine decided to work this go round. What about your powers?" Alpha shook his head. <br/> "I'm gonna assume you just turn invisible, then," he said. They both backed away slowly, out of options. Goblins panicked and fled the scene as fast as they could. Except for one, a small one, who tried to climb up the tree. Zach measured the distance between himself and the tree, and figured he could make it with seconds to spare as he ran into the yellow zone. Alpha tried to stop him, but was too slow.<br/> His Crystal Eyes didn't work. Just then, the ground crumbled apart as the yellow area blinked away.</p><hr/><p> The impact was heard back at Akala Town. The elder emerged from his room and pulled a string that rung a bell. A sound rang throughout the village, echoing throughout the woods, summoning every ninja capable of battle the town had to offer to that single building. The elder simply pointed, and that was enough. They vanished, almost instantly.</p><hr/><p> Zach woke up fairly quick, though it was clear some time had passed. He found himself deep inside a crater, and surrounding him was not grass and cherry blossom trees, but dirt, rocks, and knocked out goblins. He stood up and walked forward to support himself on a rock. Ears ringing, he gazed above in case Eta or Alpha was calling out to him, but he then realized how far down he collapsed.<br/> After giving himself a moment to gather his thoughts, Zach checked his situation again and ran by escape options in his head. Shouting was a chore, with his injuries taken into consideration. As too was running uphill, but with a lack of alternatives, he reluctantly decided on that.<br/> Slowly striding forwards, his ears calmed, he heard a creaking sound, followed by snaps, as if something was loosened. He looked above once more, and as the sky darkened he remembered the goblin he attempted chased up the tree. He remembered, because that very same tree was falling into the crater at that moment.<br/>  "Dammit, the eggs!" Zach tried his best to get his eyes to flash, and when they did, he jumped towards the hollow of the tree. Roots and branches created obstacles for him to dodge, even landing on a long, sturdy branch and running up it to give himself more momentum. He glanced up and saw the Roc eggs were now visible. He ran towards the end of the branch, then jumped and embraced one egg, both about the size of his body, neck to knees.<br/> Zach reached his left hand out to grab the other egg, but it grazed the tip of his fingers and kept falling. He peeked over the egg he caught and found himself headed straight for the hollow. He landed inside of it, and quickly leapt out, Crystal Eyes still intact, speeding towards the remaining egg. He shifted the caught egg into the grasp of his entire right arm, reaching the left out again, set on saving it.<br/> As they both plummeted towards the bottom of the crater, Zach began to realize he again misjudged himself. The egg would break apart on the ground or a goblin before he could reach it. Just then a branch hit him on his back, propelling him forwards the distance he needed to close the distance. Zach grabbed the other egg and hugged it tight, now spiraling in the midst of his fall. He rolled in the air out of the way of the remaining branches as a grim thought crept up on him.<br/> "If I can't speed up after I land, the giant tree will crush me even if I stood under the hole,"he thought to himself. Just seconds after he contemplated this, he was suddenly stopped midair. Something had grabbed his hood. He turned his head and saw Alpha materialize, floating. He winked at Zach, who gave a toothy grin in response. <br/> "Alpha! Just in the nick of time! Wait, what are you-?" Alpha suddenly began winding up, spinning in place. Then threw Zach out of the crater.<br/> "WHAT THE HELL!?" Zach shouted as his voice trailed off in the distance. Alpha looked up and the tree falling down, as time seemed to slow down for both him and Zach. Zach watched on as Alpha simply smiled and disappeared again. The tree crashed to the ground.<br/> Zach stared at the tree, searching for any signs of Alpha moving, but saw nothing. It took him a moment to realize he was once again suspended in the air, by the hood. He struggled to get out of his assailant's grasp.<br/> "Chill buddy, you're gonna drop an egg. Im on your side," said the voice. Zach calmed town and turned his head slightly, just enough to see green robes.<br/> "Another ninja, huh?" he questioned. "How do you guys... float like that?"<br/> "Ah, its just a ninja skill some of us know."<br/> "Alpha will... he'll be okay, right?"<br/> The ninja went silent.<br/> "I hope so."</p><hr/><p> The two landed a slim distance away from the chasm.<br/>"I'm Gamma by the way." The boy bowed, introducing himself. He nodded his head in the direction of a purple one. "Over there is Zeta. She can treat your injuries. I hear you took a nasty fall."<br/> "Yeah," Zach answered nonchalantly. He laid the eggs down in a patch of nearby grass. He couldn't help but look back into the crater at the wooden ruins of the tree. <br/> Zeta looked up from wrapping an unconscious Eta in bandages at Zach. Gamma walked over and sat down.<br/> "You don't look too concerned," Zeta pointed out sternly. <br/> Gamma sighed, yet didn't seem pesteted or saddened by her query. "He vanished before any of us could see it happen. He didn't want us to be depressed if there was a chance he couldn't outrun the tree. I wouldn't doubt it for a damn moment. That's just how Alpha thinks."<br/> Zeta sat still for a moment, opening her mouth, but no words came out. Gamma was tough yet laid-back, like usual, but he seemed soft this time. Like a facade. <br/> Zeta noticed Zach was approaching, so stood to grab her medical equipment. It wasn't a moment later when a loud shriek resounded throughout the forest.<br/> "That sounded like the Roc," Gamma began. This was immediately followed by Zach rushing off.<br/> "Oi, kid wait! Your injuries!" Zach couldn't tell which one of the ninjas said this, he was already far gone. He sped through the abundance of trees, slid down a cliff, and jumped from its side to a ledge across a river. He ran off again when suddenly his head began pounding. His eyes burned. Zach collapsed to the ground, exhausted by the overuse of his speed.</p><p>Episode 2: Powers</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Crystal Eye Profiles: Zach Dendrose</p><p>Leader of the team Crystal Eye, fights with a cursed wendigo claw on a normal sword grip. Adventurous, jokey, hard headed, and naive.<br/>Age: 15<br/>Birthday: July 14th<br/>Hobbies: Soccer, Exploring, Hunting<br/>Messy hair, wears a blue jacket, often unzipped and revealing white short-sleeved shirt with a red X on it. Brown shoes, he's saving money to buy better ones.<br/>Powers: Crystal Eyes<br/>- Due to an incident involving crystals at a young age, at random he can receive a speed boost. His eyes glow a sky blue when in action.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. A Mother's Struggle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> Celia held onto the giant cup-like formation of twigs and other items with all her might, the flapping of the Roc blowing wind almost hard enough to send her plummeting to her death.<br/> The Roc, noticing her lack of movement aside from struggling to retain her grasp, pounced at her. Celia dove into the nest itself, the Roc missing and continuing down the mountain until it hit the ground. Celia tumbled down the side, causing loose feathers and leaves to stick to her attire. She stood and prepared to brush leaves off her pants, should she have the time, when she noticed a variety of animal meat and berries tucked into the side of the nest.<br/> <em>"It's intelligent enough to create a hole in the nest to store food,"</em> she thought. She then kicked the nest with all her might. <em>"While also reassuring it is sturdy,"</em> she continued. Her thoughts were cut off abruptly when the Roc soared into the skies again and pecked at her. This time she had just barely managed to move out of the way. She took her bow out again and shot an arrow at the behemoth's beak, but no special effects came after once it made contact. <br/> This stunned the Roc who was likely expecting more fire or ice, and gave Celia time for a running start. She jumped and dug her fingers into the top side of the nest, in the direction of the wayward branch, and pulled herself up. The Roc put it's attention back onto her and flew higher, prepping either to attack the intruder or block an attack from them. It watched her movements carefully. Yet she didn't attack. She balanced herself on the branch until she reached the cliffside. Then she turned around and stood still.<br/> The bird lowered its eyes. It approached her at the pace of a worm, wary of any sudden attacks. It fully believed she gave up and charged forward, spiraling and ready to peck her once more. She waited until the last moment, then smugly hopped off the side of the branch. The Roc crashed into the cliffside, causing rocks and dirt to fall from the top of the cliff and land on its back.<br/> After watching the success of her plan, she turned and shot multiple ice arrows at the rocky wall, ice spouting out roughly in the form of a slide. She landed on her feet and slid down, making an escape to the woods.</p><hr/><p>The tremors felt from the winged giant colliding with the wall woke Zach up from his overworked daze. He recalled how his parents explained human bodies weren't built to handle powers taken from crystals. That explained the pain.<br/> He used his sword as a cane and walked forward before he remembered that Celia was own her own fighting the Roc. He began to run again, only to collapse once more.<br/> "Sheesh, you could have let us handle it while I fixed you up." Zach mustered up enough space to turn around and met eyes with Zeta. She sighed. <br/> "Eta woke up and went off with Gamma. I called over my friend Mu to go with them. Your friend will be fine, but right now you gotta think about yourself."<br/> Zach rolled back over with a sigh.</p><p>Crystal Eye<br/>By TheManiaac <br/>Episode 3: A Mother's Struggle</p><p>  "Sit up."<br/> Zach did as he was told, and was thanked by Zeta shoving a bottle of medicine into Zach's mouth. He gagged at the sour taste.<br/> "Deal with it," she ordered plainly, clearly used to that reaction. She wrapped his torso in a long white bandadge as well as his right arm, which was bruised during his fall into the hole.<br/> "And done!" Zach was astonished by the speed of the process. "You don't still feel pain, do you?"<br/> "No, I feel fine. Asides from that medicine. Do you have some sort of healing power or something?"<br/> "Yeah. All of us ninjas have our own unique abilities that we learned or had since we were young. I'm the latter." She sounded proud of this fact, though Zach was occupied, looking in the direction of the Roc's nest.<br/> "Hey, I dunno much about birds, but when they lay eggs they don't normally move them, right?"<br/> "I guess so. Animals aren't my department."<br/> "The Roc is a mother, and has two eggs. Those goblins have been taking them while the Roc leaves to hunt, particularly in those places your village hunt."<br/> "Yup."<br/> "When you guys hunt, is the Roc rowdy? Or is it somehow almost quiet?"<br/> "Sometimes we can't tell if its coming if we're already at an area, other times its pretty loud because it flies through the woods rather than over them. Why are you asking so many questions?"<br/> "...maybe it could mean that..."<br/> Zeta was confused by his mumbling, but she had no time to question him as he grabbed her wrist and ran off once again.<br/> Eta had surprisingly shown scarce signs of exhaustion. Gamma pranced in the air thanks to his hovering abilities, holding onto Eta so his wounds wouldn't reopen due to intense movement. He glided around the Roc, diving in close for Eta to strike. His Second Impact knocked the giant towards Mu, who stood on the nest with the eggs returned.<br/> Mu, Zeta's friend, was dressed in a natural grey, with a mask covering her mouth and nose, and unlike the rest of the ninja so far she wielded a sai as a weapon. She leapt high into the air and aimed the sai at the Roc's chest. It caught itself and flew higher, clashing its sharp talons with the sai.<br/> Celia was hidden behind a tree, gathering her thoughts and planning what to do next. She could hear the ensuing brawl between the three ninja and the Roc above her.<br/> <em>"What can I do here..."</em> she thought. She looked at her array of arrows and wondered if she could manage to hit the Roc without hurting the others. <em>"Is my aim good enough...?"</em><br/> Despite her worries, she spun from behind the tree and shot a yellow arrow at the bird. Mu managed to sense the arrow coming, and let herself fall back to the nest, while the arrow itself perfectly hit the airborne target, and electrocuted it. <br/> Celia smiled successfully, but Mu shouted from the nest. "What the hell!? If I couldn't hear that arrow, I'd have died!"<br/> "You would have been fine, I'm a good archer," she told herself nonchalantly, used to arguing back with people. "Wait, hear it?" <br/> Upon looking closer, she saw Mu's eyes were seemed cloudy, and a pupil could barely be found. Celia decided to leave it be.<br/> Just then, Zach had, at last, arrived to the battlefield. He came to a stop after quickly passing by Celia. He let go of Zeta and tackled her with a big hug.<br/> "You're okay! I'm so glad!"<br/> "Get off me! I'm gonna-"<br/> The two fell over.<br/> Zeta couldn't help but laugh at the two of them, but quickly got back to business, pulling Zach off of Celia by his hood.<br/> "Don't you have something that you wanted to say?" Still holding onto his hood.<br/> "Oh! Right! Everyone!" Zach began, gaining the attention of everyone fighting the Roc too. "There might be two Rocs, not just this one!"<br/> "The heck are you talkin about kid?" Gamma questioned, dodging a charge from the bird.<br/> "Think about it! A bird wouldn't move its eggs after spending so much time building the nest! And that nest up there before you guys put those eggs there, it was empty, wasn't it!? There are two Rocs just a short distance from each other that hunt in different ways but in the same places! One Roc hasn't hatched the eggs yet, while the other keeps getting them stolen!"<br/> Everyone quietly considered his theory. Zeta put him down. Celia smiled at his thought process. "It wouldn't take so long for a bird to lay eggs Zach."<br/> "Normal birds, you mean?"<br/> Celia went to retaliate, but paused. She had never read anything on a Roc before, and that was a strong counter.<br/> "Alright, then where is the other Roc?" Gamma asked.<br/> "Wherever your hunting grounds are probably. We'd better handle this Roc before the other one comes."<br/> "And we're just supposed to believe you?" Mu questioned. She continued to fight the Roc while Gamma and Eta landed on a branch pointing out from the nest.<br/> "Its possible," Eta said to Gamma.<br/> "Of course it is. But we met these people like an hour or two ago. They lied once before, who said they couldn't again?"<br/> Zach and Celia looked at each other. "Lie?" they questioned in unison, Celia with a bit more unease.<br/> Gamma looked down at them. "Yeah, you guys aren't a team. Crystal Eye doesn't exist.</p><hr/><p> A herd of giant bison roamed an open marsh. As they traveled, the smallest and likely the child paused and looked down at a shadow on the ground. It grew bigger and bigger around them. The wind picked up, and seemed to put all its nonexistent attention onto the bison. Flowers swayed, then blew away. Moments later, a herd of giant bison laid cold on an open marsh, never going to breathe again.</p><hr/><p>The first Roc was now apprehended. It was flat on the ground under its nest, alive, but unconscious. Zach and Celia now had a fist and sai aimed at their heads respectively, and their weapons dropped to the floor in a clatter.<br/> "We came to help, geniuses," Celia huffed.<br/> "Calm down Celia. Aggression ain't gonna help here," Zach attempted to console her. She sighed.<br/> Eta slept in the shade caused by trees nearby, completely exhausted by the previous battles. Zeta stood over him, examining for any more injuries.<br/> Mu began interrogating the duo. "How can we know you aren't just gonna bolt out of here? How do we know you didn't bring this so called second Roc here yourself to make more trouble for us?" <br/> "I almost died to a bunch of goblins, how would I be able to drag a giant bird here?" Zach argued calmly.<br/> Celia stared at him "You what?"<br/> "Uh, nevermind! Ignore that!"<br/> "What the hell happened!? Is that why you came here looking all beat up!?"<br/> "Did you expect me to not fight?"<br/> Mu and Gamma blanked out as they watched, or heard, the two bicker right in front of them, as if they weren't being accused of deceit. Mu lowered her sai in defeat, but Gamma reached out to grab Zach. Zach's eyes glowed as he ducked under his advance, grabbed his wrist, and threw him to the ground behind him.<br/> Mu went to move forward, but Celia aimed an arrow at her head, and kicked Zach's sword over to him. Zach grabbed it and sat on Gamma's back.<br/> "If we were really bad, I'd shoot you right now, and your friend over there would be missing his head."<br/> Mu considered her words, and dropped her sai. Gamma struggled a bit more, before finally sighing, "I yield."<br/> Zach stood and offered a hand to help Gamma up, but he slapped the hand aside. They exchanged glares before Zach looked over to Zeta.<br/> "If I'm remembering correctly, you said that sometimes the Roc flies over the trees, and sometimes through them." He turned to Celia. "Where did this one come from?"<br/> "Through the trees. Meaning?"<br/> "Meaning we have to look for the next one carefully. I asked Zeta about the behaviors of the Roc, and one is a lot more organized than the other. It could've passed overhead without us noticing at any time,"<br/> As he said this, a giant shadow passed overhead. They all looked above and saw the second roc fly past, towards the now collapsed tree.<br/> "Huh. Or that could happen. Where did we leave the eggs?"<br/> "They should still be back there," Gamma said.<br/> "Alright, let's stop this bird once and for all!" Zach shouted enthusiastically.<br/> "What are you, the leader now?" Celia joked.<br/> "Shut up! C'mon!"</p><hr/><p> The Roc landed on a space of ground to peer into the gaping hole in the ground. It laid eyes on the tree, and let out a screech. It slowly flapped its wings to circle around the area looking for the eggs. It was then it noticed the many ninjas that arrived on the scene when the goblins attacked. Recognizing the outfits they wore, it pounced at a breathtaking speed at the panicked warriors. Zach sped in front of a ninja and held his sword up to block the attack. He didn't drop it this time, but was propelled back into the forest, colliding with Celia.<br/> Gamma, Zeta, and Mu emerged afterwards, the former lunging forward to deliver a punch to the nose, but the bird flew back into the sky, the wind knocking Gamma and others over. He got up quickly and jumped to the air to float, attempting to close the gap between himself and the bird, but soon his momentum ran out and he paused midair. <br/> Meanwhile, Celia helped Zach up. "We can't just charge in blindly like our last fight, we need to make a plan."<br/> "Well what can we do? We can't reach it in the air because the tree is knocked over," Zach replied.<br/> Celia leaned against a tree and thought. "Find the eggs. If we show it the eggs, and show that we don't mean any harm, maybe we can get it to stop."<br/> "We don't mean harm?"<br/> She plucked him on the forehead. "The only reason we fought last time was because at the moment we didn't have a way to calm the Roc down. We do now." <br/> "Gamma, catch!" Mu shouted as she threw a sai in the general direction of the sky. Gamma moved slightly and caught it, then threw it at the Roc.<br/> "I don't think they're interested in peace, Celia," Zach noted<br/> "I'll deal with them, you just search for the eggs." And with that, they split off, Zach on the west side of the crater, Celia towards the ninjas to attempt to stop their attacks. She put her arm on Mu's shoulder to get her attention. When she didn't move, she spun her around.<br/> "That bird is a mother! Do you really need to kill it? And leave two babies on their own?"<br/> "They'll be fine, we can leave it with the other Roc!" Mu argued.<br/> "What the hell!? You can't do that!"<br/> "You had no problem with attacking the first bird, what's wrong with this one? It gets a pass due to being a mother? How do you know that other bird wasn't one too? Do you even know why you've suddenly changed sides?"<br/> "You're saying it like I intended on killing it! Defeating it might have helped it calm down and listen to me!"<br/> "Alright, then do the same to this one!"<br/> A new voice entered the conversation. "No,"<br/> The girls turned towards the voice, Mu recognizing it immediately and bowing down. <br/> "Oh, you're the elder."<br/> "If we could subdue the beasts through pacifism, it'd be welcome. We have fought long enough, and if the Roc truly were just trying to prepare for their offspring, we should allow them to," he explained.<br/> "Yes sensei," Mu said.<br/> "It was that easy!?" Celia complained.<br/> Zach searched frantically for the eggs. He checked every bush he ran by, unable to recall where exactly the eggs were left before he ran off to assist Celia. He looked up at the Roc, and without warning, soon became transfixed on looking at it. He thought back to when the goblins had mentioned they took eggs many times before. Just how many were mercilessly pilfered? Can the Roc lay any more?<br/> With a newfound burst of determination, he sped laps around the clearing searching for the eggs.<br/> He then tripped and fell back down the crater.<br/> It was a long fall, rocks and debris pelting his body as he tumbled, but soon he arrived at the bottom once more. Arrived at the fallen tree.<br/> While he was down there, he continued the search. At a normal pace, wary of the medicine Zeta gave him wearing off. He climbed onto the tree and surveyed the area. Just then a powerful punch knocked him in his temple, causing him to fall off the tree head first.<br/> "Ow! What the-?" when he looked up, he saw a battered up Alpha, holding one egg. Alpha angrily motioned to the egg, then pointed up to the top of the crater. Then pointed to the ground. <br/> Zach didn't decipher what Alpha was saying as he simply climbed back up the cliff and hugged him. Tight. Alpha patted him on the back with his free hand, then pushed him apart to pass the egg.<br/> "R-right. Thanks. Where's the other?"<br/> Alpha answered with a hesitant head shake. Zach gulped and held the egg towards his chest solemnly. He gazed into the sky again, this time measuring the distance between himself and the Roc.<br/> "Can you float too?" Zach asked Alpha without turning. He was answered by a reassuring grunt. Zach told him his plan.</p><hr/><p> Alpha climbed onto Zach's back as Zach jumped down from the tree and walked towards the bottom of a side of the hole, eyes flickering on and off. <br/> "Get ready to throw me," Zach told Alpha. They rocketed off, running up the cliffside as fast as Zach could go. They shot up into the sky, piercing through the air like a knife through food blowing Gamma out of the way.<br/> "Alpha!?"<br/> They soon began to slow down, and without hesitation Alpha grabbed Zach's hood and threw him even father. This pause allowed everyone to notice the two, including the Roc, which where she flew only saw his back. The beast shrieked at Zach and flew forwards. Zach spun around and held the egg out to the mother.<br/> She stopped.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Crystal Eye Profiles: Celia Dendrose</p><p>The more mature, co-leader of Crystal Eye and handles financial matters. Easily annoyed, and a bit insecure, but enjoys the company of friends. Fights with a bow and elemental arrows.<br/>Age: 16<br/>Birthday: February 14th<br/>Hobbies: Archery, reading, painting<br/>Long hair and trimmed bangs, regardless of weather wears a big green scarf that covers her mouth, striped shirt, a plain teal sweat jacket, and boots. Wears gloves when using her bow due to crystals.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Luna Carnival</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope this makes up for and explains the wait between chapters 2 and 3!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> Celia rested in her room at their apartment. She was not doing anything, just staring at the ceiling, filled with wanted posters they could potentially use for profits. She was thinking about their last mission at Akala Town.<br/>
 It ended well.<br/>
<em> Zach spun around and held the egg out to the mother.</em><br/>
<em> She stopped. Time seemingly stopped. The Roc just stared at her last egg. When Zach began falling, once again reaching the height of the throw, the Roc darted forwards and caught him with her beak. </em><br/>
<em> He moved the egg his right hand and reached the other up to pet the Roc. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of this," he whispered. "We don't want to fight you anymore. Your egg is safe." The Roc made a soft sound in reply.</em><br/>
<em> The Roc began lowering down towards the ground. Zach grabbed Alpha, who was floating in place watching things develop. Suddenly, the Roc flung the two onto her back and flew down faster. They laughed.</em><br/>
<em> Zach and Celia both were able to make peace with the ninjas despite their views on how the situation should have been handled, the ninjas also doing the same with the Rocs. They united together to plant seeds of the tree that collapsed, hoping that one would grow to also be a giant, and become a new home for the Roc. It's last egg was hidden safely in a bed of leaves in a cave the creek from the Ninja village leads to. An effort was made to send food that way via the same creek. Zach started this by falling off the bride again trying to drop bison meat into a boat.</em><br/>
<em> The other Roc wouldn't budge, so the seeds were planted at the ninjas' hunting grounds. </em><br/>
<em> The elder scolded "Crystal Eye" for lying about being a team, but paid them double for their work. Zach quickly spent most of that money on hosting a party for solving the problem, food for the village and the Roc, and celebrating Alpha's surviving of the tree falling. Celia was not thrilled.</em><br/>
 Celia's eyes fell upon a ringleader of a circus in a dark cape and shook her head. She'd rather not go anywhere near them. She took a book off her bookshelf, named "Enchanted Tombs," and began reading it. Then a slightly crumpled flyer was shoved into her face.<br/>
 Celia lifted the paper off from her face so she could read it. "Luna Carnival has arrived... one night only... entrance to Persicum Forest—you want to go to a carnival?"<br/>
 Zach nodded.<br/>
 "That's near another forest?"<br/>
 Zach nodded again. Celia scowled.<br/>
 "Come on, we've been taking quests, illegally mind you, for months now. We deserve a break! Especially after everything with the rocs and the ninja village."<br/>
"You don't need to tell me the quests are illegal. It was my idea, Junior." She poked his head as she sat up from her bed, putting down her book. Now he scowled.<br/>
 "Don't call me that."<br/>
 "Whatever. I guess you're right about a break." Zach celebrated, albeit prematurely, as Celia interrupted. "I'm telling you, we're only staying an hour. I'm not going anywhere near a clown and there are way  too many of them at carnivals. Understood?"<br/>
 Zach snickered and nodded.<br/>
 "Now get out of my room!"</p><p>Crystal Eye<br/>
By TheManiaac <br/>
Episode 4: Luna Carnival</p><p> They departed without their trademark jackets, it being a warm summer night. Celia still had her scarf on, though it was loosened. Arriving at Mineral Town, they entered a trolley station that claimed to be magic.<br/>
 "All you need to do is activate it by pulling the lever in the front," a man looking like a conductor instructed a group of people, which included Zach and Celia They hopped on the primitive looking trolley, with Celia taking a seat and Zach rushing to the front to activate the train.<br/>
 "Uh, is this thing secure?" a boy asked to no one in particular as he shook a loose pole.<br/>
 "The trolley activator guy turned from his seat. He looked over at the boy and told him that everything would be fine," Zach answered the query.<br/>
 "Why are you narrating yourself?"<br/>
 "Thought it would be fun. We're all going to the carnival right?"<br/>
 With an unanimous vote for yes, he pulled the lever.<br/>
 "Uh, should I say Persicum Forest, or somethi-"<br/>
 He couldn't finish his query as the trolley seemed to rocket off, the wheels remaining on the track, but their outside whereabouts turning purple as if a portal opened and they were traveling through it.<br/>
 Zach kneeled down to look at the base of the lever and saw a faint glow.<br/>
 "Crystals, huh?" he thought to himself. He snapped out of it when the brakes activated on their own. He tumbled from the front of the trolley due to the sudden slowing down, and rolled to the back.<br/>
 Eventually the machine fully halted, and the world around them turned to normal, except a carnival laid at the bottom of a small hill, a small enough distance that children hopped off the trolley and rolled down it, despite many of their parent's wishes.<br/>
 Celia stepped off, then peered back in. "Probably should've sat down." Zach hopped out a nearby window and stared at the carnival from a distance. <br/>
 "Whats with our recent journeys and everything being... big?" He questioned as he motioned a hand out to multiple attractions.<br/>
 "Didn't think that'd be something you complain about," Celia noted. "You hitting that whole moody phase?"<br/>
 "Nope!" He grabbed her arm and sped to the carnival, unintentionally bypassing the ticket center. They stopped at a fountain close to the center of the carnival, surveying the land. Celia cringed at a clown.<br/>
 Zach saw a television displayed on a pole, and walked over to it to watch the video with other guests. It was a girl dressed almost like a ringmaster of a circus, though her short dress was almost night themed, a mix of cobalt and black.<br/>
 "Welcome to Luna Carnival! This is a reminder that there is a special showing of the Gravity Gauntlets near the circus! This includes me showing a full display of their abilities and a time for children to play with gravity! This will be a full hour from now! While you wait, you could take a visit to our many attractions, including acts from the circus, the hall of mirrors, two carousels, and much more! Enjoy your stay! This is Luna, signing off." The clip proceeded to start from the beginning again, so Zach returned to the fountain where Celia was waiting, both ready to hunt for activities.<br/>
 At the circus, the ringmaster gave a sinister smile as the gauntlet announcement played once more.</p>
<hr/><p> Celia took a large bite of her pink cotton candy.<br/>
 "Slow down Celia, you know how you get with sugar," Zach warned.<br/>
 "I'll be fine, I asked for mine's to me smaller for a reason. What do you want to do next?" <br/>
 "Lets check out the circus. I won tickets from the high striker game, so there's no fee."<br/>
 "Neat. That gravity presentation you told me about is near that, and it should be happening in about 20 minutes. Only problem is: clowns?"<br/>
 "This show has been rated F for free of clowns. The ticket says so,"<br/>
 "Nice. We're leaving after that ends, mind you."<br/>
 "Ugh, fine." <br/>
 After a terrible experience involving an abundance of clowns, Celia had to be dragged to the presentation area. A ringmaster waved to them in guilt.<br/>
 "I thought that Luna lady was the ringmaster," Zach said. <br/>
 "Maybe there's two or something," Celia replied gloomily. "He looks familiar, though..."<br/>
 The set up had yet to be finished, so the duo chipped in to help out along with other guests. Zach had finished the last row of chairs when he was approached by the girl from the video.<br/>
 "Thanks again for the assistance. It's not like me to be so unorganized during a big event. Pleased to meetcha, by the by. I'm Luna. I own and run this place." She stuck her hand out, and Zach shook it, waving his other hand to dissmiss her gratitude.<br/>
 "No problem, I don't mind. The name's Zach." He looked over at the stage he lined the chairs up to face, and saw the red and blue gauntlets being held in a glass case." Say, how did you manage to find those gloves? I've never heard of them before."<br/>
 Luna looked around secretively and leaned closer to whisper. "You aren't a journalist, are you?" <br/>
 "Nope. Just a curious guest."<br/>
 She squinted, contemplating whether or not to tell him. She then smiled, proudly putting her hands on her hips. "Family heirloom. We're kind of rich, if you will, and my family never thought I would make it this big. 3 years later and many rejoice hearing my carnival is arriving." She paused. "Or maybe its just that a carnival in general is coming. Oh whatever, point is, now I've got my own business that doesn't run in the family, and if that doesn't prove my family wrong, successfully displaying a family heirloom could, then."<br/>
 "That sounds super cool! How do they work?"<br/>
 "That, you'll have to wait for the show for!"<br/>
 Suddenly, the power went out across the entire land. The carousel music came to an abrupt end, and what started up was murmurs of the crowd. Glass shattering was quickly heard, followed by a ruckus of chairs falling, and something tearing.<br/>
 "Activate the emergency lights!" An official sounding voice commanded. A minute later the land lit up. Zach's eyes immediately fell onto the stage. One light flickered slowly, one that was directly over the mysteriously intact gravity gauntlets. Luna was already there, sweating, examining them. He jogged over<br/>
 "Are they okay? Are they scratched or torn or something?"<br/>
 Luna gently opened the case from the back, and went to lift up the gauntlets. The stand they were on sank into the wood podium, and was followed up by an explosion, knocking the two back.<br/>
 Zach came to quickly, though his ears rang. He saw the red gauntlet lying on the ground, burning, the paint melting away to reveal it was a plain brown. </p>
<hr/><p> Luna sat on a bench panicked. Celia sat next to her, trying to console her, while Zach looked around the area for cameras or any clue of where the gauntlets disappeared. If the whole podium replaced with an explosive, surely he should be looking for a strong looking person. He came to a stop when he realized a team effort also could've been the case. He put his hands on his head in exasperation. <br/>
 "Where the hell did they go," he asked himself. He continued to wonder, eventually coming to the front of the hall of mirrors. He looked at the entrance. Then looked once more. Both times his eyes fell upon a wooden podium. He ran back to the bench.<br/>
 "Yo, C. I found something," he announced, as he leaned on the side of the bench. "The wooden podium is laying in front of the hall of mirrors."<br/>
 Celia stood up and looked back at Luna.  "Don't worry. We can help get that back for you." She reached between her scarf and neck and grabbed out three Carrien Rocks. Tossing one to Zach, they both pressed the top and unveiled their sword, bow, and quiver, which only held red arrows.<br/>
 Luna just looked at them. "You know, to enter the carnival you had to check in, and weapons were prohibited."<br/>
 Celia glared at Zach. "Okay maybe I shouldn't have ran so fast down here. But—it's a good thing we did, because now we can get your gauntlets back for you," he argued.<br/>
 Luna greatfully smiled. "Thank you."<br/>
 The duo head off to the hall of mirrors. Upon entering the entrance was filled to the brim with reflections of themselves. Zach made a dumb face in front of one. However, his reflection didn't do the same.<br/>
 "Thats not how mirrors work," he said to himself. "Celia, somethings up."<br/>
 "You think? The door shut behind us." She turned and looked at a mirror that made her extremely round. She stared at it. "Not funny."<br/>
 They wandered in a bit further, the reflections altering between perfectly mimicking them and becoming something entirely different. <br/>
 "Shouldn't we have asked if Luna suspected anyone of stealing the gauntlets?" Celia asked.<br/>
 "Shit. You're right." Zach began thinking if he saw anyone in the crowd looking like they would take them. He then remembered what Luna told him.<br/>
 "Hey, Luna said that those were a heirloom she took from her family to prove that she didn't need to run their business to be successful. What if she wanted to go a bit farther than that?"<br/>
 "You had a big theory like this last time. I doubt it'd happen twice in a row," said Celia.<br/>
 Suddenly, two mirrors opposite of each other rocketed out towards Celia. She rolled out of the way, but landed on a pressure plate. Shards rained down from the ceiling hidden in the dark. Zach and Celia ran ahead into an open space, with a circle of mirrors in the center of the area and more surrounding them. <br/>
 They both laid eyes on a mirror with Luna on it. Zach charged forward and and looked where the mirror, was aimed, but it was a cardboard cut out.<br/>
 "Imbecile," a voice echoed throughout the halls. All of the mirrors soon were filled with the same person, the ringmaster of the circus. And he wore the gauntlets. Celia recognized him immediately. With a wave of the blue glove, she was propelled into the air.<br/>
 "Celia!" Zach swiveled around and broke a mirror out of anger. "What the hell is your problem? Who even are you?" <br/>
 "I'm the real ringmaster of the circus. I'm sure you saw me when you two came in," the voice continued to echo. Zach sped around, kicking mirrors. "Anyone with a brain would know the riches of the Castellanos family."<br/>
 "She's a Castellanos? Of course I know how rich they are. They get all their profit from being the longest running exploration team, and the biggest. No wonder why she has those."<br/>
 Celia shouted up from the ceiling. "Zach! Thats a wanted criminal! He goes by Enigma!" She stood carefully, surrounded by glass shards hanging by threads. She used her enhanced view to scan the entire area and look for Enigma. Meanwhile, Zach continued to break mirrors.<br/>
 "That won't help you." Enigma began to move around, changing what mirrors he appeared in. Suddenly, an arrow shot down from the ceiling. Zach picked up on the hint and ran that way and sliced his sword at Enigma. Enigma dodged out of the way, then using the red gauntlet, slammed Zach into the ground. He held him there, crushing him under the weight of gravity. He let go for a second to send shards raining onto him, cutting his skin.<br/>
 Celia shot a fire arrow at the mirror behind Enigma. It ricochet off and bounced around, causing Enigma to release his grasp on both of them. Celia landed on Enigma, and seeing her chance, punched him in the face. He grabbed her wrist upon  the impact and began sending her back up, when Zach grabbed her boot and tugged in an attempt to hold her down.<br/>
 Enigma increased the pull on Celia, throwing her back up, landing and threw Zach onto the ground again. He switched their gravity, sending her back down and sending Zach up. They bumped into each other, and before they could get any farther Zach grabbed Celia's scarf, and she bit down on it.<br/>
 "My god you're heavy!" Celia said, strained, through her teeth. She reached up and grabbed him, and threw him downwards. When he shot upwards again, he landed on her feet. Enigma began to escape as the fire arrow Celia shot began to spread fire across the carpeted halls.<br/>
 "I move my right foot, you move your left," Celia ordered.<br/>
 "Got it!" They began walking forward, and once they found a rhythm, began running to the exit.<br/>
 Upon exiting, they saw Enigma holding police officers down. <br/>
 "Take your shot, Celia!" Zach shouted, quiet enough as not to alert Enigma.<br/>
 Celia took out an arrow and aimed carefully. She then shot, hitting Enigma straight in his shoulder.<br/>
 He shouted and swore in pain, the fire spreading. He propelled the fire off of him at the two. However, this overloaded the gauntlets due to casting its effect on too many people and objects, making the fire blowing out midair, Celia and Zach fall, and releasing the officers from his grasp. One quickly aimed a gun at Enigma, but he swiftly pushed the officers off.<br/>
 When Celia got up, Enigma was gone.<br/>
 "Damn," she swore to herself. She helped Zach up and turned back to the hall of mirrors, which was on fire.<br/>
  "I forgot about my fire arrow! Shoot!"<br/>
 Zach looked back. "You should probably make water arrows." She punched him.</p>
<hr/><p> "Sorry he got away, Ms. Castellanos" Zach apologized. They were at the entrance to the carnival, the fire dealt with.<br/>
 "Please don't call me that. And its alright. I'm just gonna have to face my parents about it. I should have asked in the first place." She turned and took something out of her pocket. She turned back and gave Zach an envelope. "Here is 5 grand for your trouble."<br/>
 Celia took it immediately. "Nope."<br/>
 "Thats for the better," Zach chuckled.<br/>
 "I look forward to seeing you both again," Luna told them.<br/>
 "Same here." They shook hands once more and head to the trolley.<br/>
<em> "We'll hunt that Enigma guy down, cash in the bounty, and get more than enough to afford a team base,"</em> Zach thought. Aloud: "By the way, we're 'evicted,' Celia. Whatever that means."<br/>
 She spun around. "What!?"<br/>
 "I used the 'rent' on food."<br/>
 "Godammit, Zach."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Next time: a new arc begins!</p><p>Crystal Eye Terms: The Castellanos Family</p><p>The Castellanos family is a well known family, primarily for being the first established exploration team, Castellanos Guild, and the founders of the exploration team system. Since then they have contributed much to society, including kickstarting technological advancements, crystal-powered devices, and schools and camps that help train the young in educational and exploration matters. The team leader is passed from child to child, though a generation has notably been skipped.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Strife in the Sands</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"It's a hot day, boss," a scratchy voice complained. It rode on the back of a land shark, alongside three others.<br/>
 "Shut it, Charles. Boss ain't up for it today," said another, with a deeper tone. "He's focused on grabbin' them fossils at that dig."<br/>
 The tall, muscular man in front of the rest of the group spoke at last. "And nuthin is getting in my way of a job this time." He grinned a crooked smile, his golden teeth shining in the desert sun. He reached an arm out, the other holding onto the rein of the sand shark, and smashed a purple crystal. The other sharks fully emerged from the sand and ate the shards that flew their way.</p>
<hr/><p> Zach and Celia were in the middle of the literal desert town Scarab-Top when they got their next mission from the foreman of a nearby excavation site. The bones they discovered possibly belonged to that of a dragon. <br/>
 Crystal Eye, secretly still a nonexistent team, was tasked with protecting the dig site from any bandits.<br/>
 "I still can't believe the really found the fossils of a dragon." Zach sat at the top of the pit, the bones piercing out the sand slowly being revealed by workers. <br/>
 "I heard in the town that it might be two. There's a smaller pair of wings, apparently," Celia informed him. She tied her scarf around her waist, acting as a tie on her white desert robes. A crocodile green cloth acted as a hood.<br/>
 "I can't wait to see them!" Zach leaned back, then promptly regretted this action as it burned to even face the direction of the sun. He wore white robes too, but had a faded blue cloak on. He stood up and surveyed the area around the pit.<br/>
 They were almost quite literally in the middle of nowhere, with the town barely being visible in the North. There was nothing else around but a few crystals and cacti. He opened a canteen bottle and splashed some water into his face, and let the cool liquid drip down his face.<br/>
 "I officially declare this as boring," he announced. <br/>
 "It's easy money dude. Just wait it out," Celia told him.<br/>
 "We can't end up just sitting around this whole time. You can't tell me that some scientists discorver dragon bones and no criminal isn't gonna get too big for their britches and try to take it. Plus, we got $5,000 from Luna. Thats more than enough to finally start our team!"<br/>
 "That's enough to get a base, yeah, but there's an entry fee for the competition to see if we're capable enough to become a team. Then there's resources. We need more than what we got, cause right now it's practically nothing."<br/>
 "Money sucks." He looked into the distance again. "Did that cactus move closer?"<br/>
 Celia looked in the same direction. "Thats too thin to be a cactus. But I can't tell what it is exactly."<br/>
 The object arrived between the two quickly.<br/>
 "Is that a shark fin?"<br/>
 The query was answered immediately, a long land shark the color of a cherry emerged from the sand. It had a sheet of paper in its mouth.<br/>
 "Daw!" Celia hopped off the rock she sat on and pet the shark. "I've read about these before! Their dorsal fins cut through any rock or cactus that they might run into while submerged in sand, and they're known to hold their breath for up to 27 minutes!"<br/>
 Zach hesitantly walked up to it. He reached a hand out to it and quickly took the paper from its jaws.<br/>
 "It won't bite," Celia said, puffing her cheeks. "They're only hostile if they were trained to be, and this little guy wouldn't attack us, would he?"<br/>
 "It's... not a dog." Zach then read the paper's contents. Its a surprise Celia didn't notice it immediately. There were 3 letters on it. It read S.O.S.<br/>
 "Something's wrong at Scarab-Top. Finally, something is happening! I'll go check it out."<br/>
 Before he heard any objections his eyes glowed and he sprinted away. <br/>
 "That's not a good thing," Celia said to herself. She reached out to the shark again, but was taken by surprise when it attempted to pounce on her. She quickly dodged out of the way and ran towards the rock where she left her bow, but the shark had the upper hand in movement and made it there first, swallowing her bow.<br/>
 She could hear more sand sharks approaching behind her. Whatever was going on, it was a coordinated attack, and Crystal Eye had fallen right into their attacker's hands.</p>
<hr/><p> Upon arriving at Scarab-Top, Zach was greeted with a normal town. Children played kickball on the open streets, the markets were open, and the townspeople were pleasant.<br/>
 "Do you need something, mister?" Zach turned and saw a little boy staring up at him. He guarded a fruit stand. "If ya need something, them melons are on sale."<br/>
 "N-no, I'm fine."<br/>
 "So why ain't ya lookin after them fossils in the desert? Want a watermelon?"<br/>
 "No thanks, a little shark came by with a distress paper with it, so I thought there was an issue..."<br/>
 "Thats just a mean old trick bandits play on explorers, I thinks. Want a watermelon?"<br/>
  Zach took a moment to process what he was told. "Shoot."<br/>
 "Want a free watermelon?"<br/>
 Zach caved in, took a watermelon, and rushed back to the desert, the boy shouting successfully to his returning mother.<br/>
 As he got closer to the excavation, someone suddenly tackled him. He flew into a rock, the impact making him flip over it and continue rolling. He got up and found himself surrounded by 3 bandits, dressed in rags, the oldest with a sack.<br/>
 "Theres no way we tricked you into the town that easy. This theft'll be a cinch," a voice spoke.<br/>
 "If you think you can get past my friend and down the pit, you're mistaken. Neither of us will let you get those fossils," responded Zach. He took his sword from the hilt connected to his robe, and reluctantly pulled his cloak off, letting the sun beat down on him, but able to see his surroundings clearer.<br/>
 "We already handled your friend. She was a pushover without a weapon."<br/>
 "You defeated Celia!?" Then he fully processed the words. Now he was pissed. "What did you do to her bow? Who the hell are you guys?"<br/>
 "We're the desert bandit group called Jaws!" another voice now spoke.<br/>
 "Shut it Charles," the final voice. "No one agreed on that name! Now—let boss handle this wimp-"<br/>
 Zach hurled the watermelon at the last person to speak, knocking them off the shark, and sending it into a panic. The others swerved out of the way, the circling around Zach ending. Zach darted forward and kicked the leader off his shark, the biggest of them all. The man landed on his feet.<br/>
 "I'd advise against that," he warned as he swung the large sack on his back off and revealed Celia was tied inside it.<br/>
 "Zach!" she pleaded. "Help!" She was cut off by the top of the sack closing. There were no holes for her to breathe.<br/>
 Zach's eyes glowed again as he charged faster than ever before, in an attempt to save his sworn sister, however the larger shark chomped down on his extended arm and dragged him, screaming in pain, away from the leader and Celia. It flung him into a crystal, the crystal bursting from the sheer strength of the throw, mist emerging from it and hovering the area<br/>
 Charles and the other grunt, back on their sand colored sharks, rode forward with guns in hand. <br/>
 Zach, back against the crystal, raised his right arm, bleeding, but insisted on using it due to it being his dominant hand. The grunts shot at him multiple times, bullets ricochet off his sword, with a now visible dark aura revealing itself. Whatever this curse on his sword was, it was also a blessing. <br/>
 The grunts and sharks panicked to avoid the bullets, not aware of its movement due to the mist emitting from the crystal. One of the bullets hit and cracked another crystal. Zach took his chance to run, charging at the leader and securing the sack with his teeth, then swerving around to run, normally, to the fossil site for help and to continue defending it. <br/>
 In the distance, the cherry colored shark approached Zach, with another bandit, a female, on it.<br/>
 "Godammit," he angrily muttered. He now activated his eyes and changed his direction to avoid a fight. He began opening up the sack with his unharmed arm freeing Celia.<br/>
 "Where's your bow?"<br/>
 "That damn red shark ate it. For a baby it's a big jerk. That was practically irreplaceable." She managed to untie herself and hopped out the bag, Zach slowing down. She noticed his arm, which had crystal mist surrounding it.<br/>
 "Did you break a crystal again?"<br/>
 "Nope, shark bit me and threw me into it and broke it." He stretched his back as he said this. "Which my back still hurts by the way. Come on, we gotta make sure they don't get the dragon bones." He grabbed her arm with his left hand, before realizing the bandits were still on their trail.<br/>
 "Just run straight between them!" she told him.<br/>
 He did as he was told, blinding the bandits with blown sand. Their sharks, unfazed, gave chase.<br/>
 "Throw me," leader commanded.<br/>
 "Yes Locke!"<br/>
 "Yessir!"<br/>
 The grunts' sharks leapt into the air and swung their tail fins in unison, launching Locke forward. He pulled his sleeves up, revealing brass knuckles and reared an arm back. Celia saw the shadow under them approach, and was too late to tell Zach to dodge, a heavy fist nailing him in the head and propelling the unsuspecting boy straight into the sand. Celia was sent flying farther off. The sand began shifting beneath all three of them, and eventually the land collapsed.</p>
<hr/><p>A white van arrived at the bottom of the chasm where the dragon bones were being discovered, most of the bigger dragon already revealed. A pink haired boy stepped out of the back, with a scientist resembling his father and a curvaceous lady with lime hair and earrings shaped like the fruit coming from the front. The head archeologist greeted them at the front of a trailer.<br/>
 "Thank you for coming on such short notice, Dr. Alloy, and... may I ask who are these two?" The man waved an arm to the kid and the girl. <br/>
 "The boy is my lab assistant and son, Paul. The lady is an... associate of mine," Dr. Alloy introduced the two.<br/>
 "I told you to call me Paulie, dad," the boy corrected.<br/>
 Citrus pulled out a small rectangular device, and out of it came a voice that was assumably hers. "And I'm no associate! I don't give a damn about your sciencey shit!"<br/>
 "Calm down Citrus!" Paulie and Citus began bickering, though both with a smile, Citrus with a wide V-shaped toothy grin. Dr. Alloy smiled at the two messing around, then quickly got down to business. <br/>
 "I brought Citrus because you told me something about the smaller dragon bones, correct?"<br/>
 The archeologist nodded. "If you'll follow me."<br/>
 He led the three up a staircase leading to the bones, emerging from the sand yet encased, seemingly incapable of movement.<br/>
 Paulie stopped at the dragon, but was surprised to be led away to the small bones.<br/>
 "At first we expected this to be a baby dragon, but these bones.."<br/>
 Citrus stepped forward and looked the set up and down.<br/>
 "You needed me to confirm a set of human bones?"<br/>
 "These aren't human bones. That's the problem. They share a similar structure, but these wings certainly were apart of the creature. Further above we believe to have found a horn. I'm not as well versed in history as I'd wish, but from Dr. Alloy I heard you were good at this stuff."<br/>
 Citrus viewed the bones once more. She prepared her device as if to say something. But then pressed a button.<br/>
 Almost instantly a drone was summoned, also coming from the van.<br/>
 "Kirby, I need you to scan this. Look at all the books we have and see if you can find anything on... winged humans," she commanded the machine.<br/>
 It broke to pieces midair. Citrus glared at Dr. Alloy.<br/>
 "Cheap ass machines. Well it looks like I'll have to study this myself, then. Ya need anything else from me?"<br/>
 "We have everything else handled." The archeologist turned to the doctor. "I'll be in touch if there's anything else."<br/>
 "Right. Come on Paul, Citrus. Let's go."<br/>
 Citrus plucked Dr. Alloy. "He said call him Paulie!"<br/>
 Paulie began to walk off. "You don't have to defend me, its fine."<br/>
 Citrus followed suit, as did Dr. Alloy.<br/>
 The archeologist looked at the bones, and for a second could have sworn he saw them move.</p>
<hr/><p> Darkness.<br/>
 Zach woke up to darkness.<br/>
 He remembered getting slugged and sat n immediately, ready to continue the battle. But what was under him wasn't sand. It was grass, swaying in the winds of the night sky. And as he turned around, watching this world piece together around him, he saw a lonesome chair with a girl sitting in it. She wore a buisness suit.<br/>
 "Hello, my loyal knight."<br/>
 "<em>Huh?</em>" He thought this. His mouth would not open.<br/>
 "The bones that you're protecting. Those are mine. Thank you." The girl smiled creepily. "Oh, but where are my manners? Call me Lucy. I already know who you are. I was able to establish a good connection when the crystal mist made contact with your blood. You might want to get that checked, by the way."<br/>
 "<em>What</em>?"<br/>
 Lucy laughed.<br/>
 "You're going to have to be a bit more specific, honey."<br/>
 "<em>Whats going on? Where's Celia?</em>"<br/>
 "Ah don't worry, she's fine. I'm currently speaking to you in your subconscious. I can't actually have a normal conversation. With anyone."<br/>
 "<em>How are you doing this?</em>"<br/>
 "<em>The crystals. You could say I am them.</em>"<br/>
 Zach's eyes widened. <br/>
 "I know, you have a lot of questions... but isn't there a job to finish?"<br/>
 "<em>Crap, you're right! Gah!</em>"<br/>
 "No worries. I'll be around."  She smiled. It seemed genuine, yet it seemed intimidating somehow."<br/>
 Zach found himself covered in sand. At least he was where he should be again. Though it was underground, now. He stood and searched the ruins, illuminated by a singlular giant gem in the center. There was a lake in the ruin, coming from a hole in a rock wall close to the ceiling. He then looked at the ceiling. There wasn't a hole that indicated how they got down here.<br/>
 Suddenly he was grabbed and made run to the area behind him. Celia was dragging him along.<br/>
 "While you're too busy staring at whatever, that Locke guy was chasing and fighting me!"<br/>
 Zach turned and saw him giving chase at a quick pace, soon seeming like he could catch up.<br/>
 They switched places with each other, Zach guiding Celia while he sped off, widening the distance between their pursuer. <br/>
 "He doesn't have that shark to move quickly in this sand, so what do we do?"<br/>
 Celia contemplated their options for a moment. <br/>
 "We need to find where we came down here."<br/>
 "Why can't we just bust through the sand ceiling?"<br/>
 "You're as dense as lead! That's solid rock!"<br/>
 Zach thought. "One, I'm not that dumb, and two... there is no two." <br/>
 "You can't run forever!" The man that goes by Locke shouted. He sent a chained whip with a shark shape at the end, fangs baring, and aimed at Zach. He tilted his head, watching the chain hit the wall and bite down on the rock, breaking it. He shivered.<br/>
 Then had a double take. Thats a full rock sculpture of a pillar. He looked to the right and saw an entrance to another room in the ruins. He quickly made a plan.<br/>
 "Celia, I need you to keep looking behind us."<br/>
 "What are you-?" She want able to finish before being dragged into the dark abyss. Locke grinned, knowing that he could go all out down here while his team focused on their original mission.<br/>
 Up above ground, his team was in fact being held up yet again, 3 sharks tied up and being gently led away by a green haired girl wielding 2 whips. The riders were on the ground, trembling in fear of the high tech gun being presented to them.<br/>
 Paulie sat gloomily in the van.<br/>
 <em>Dr. Alloy drove himself and the 2 passengers, who were studying history as usual when they were together, up the sand hill, homebound.</em><br/>
<em> "And thats how the ancient language of French was lost to time." Citrus jokingly explained to Paulie.</em><br/>
<em> "Yeah right. It was very tragic when this... Mr. Bonjour character died.</em><br/>
<em> Citrus pretended to faint. "Tragic indeed!"</em><br/>
<em> Paulie laughed, and began to say something else before his thoughts were interrupted by the swerving of the van. Citrus' communication device was lost under the seat.</em><br/>
<em> Dr. Alloy revealed a gun hidden in a compartment and hopped out the car, simply stating, "Bandits." </em><br/>
<em> Citrus stood immediately and got out the car as well. She turned back to Paulie and mouthed to him to stay there as she grabbed her choice of weapon, two whips. Paulie undid his seatbelt and leaned out the side of the car, watching on as they both expertly avoided gunshots from the criminals. His father shot a bullet at the sand, spooking the sharks, and allowing them to break free of the bandits' reins and attempt to swim in the sand, but their find were grabbed by Citrus' long whips. The bandits were too slow to react during the entire ordeal and found themselves with a gun pointed at themselves.</em><br/>
<em> "Shit."</em><br/>
<em> Paulie clenched his fist as he watched the two's success.</em><br/>
<em> "You're weak."</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Crystal Eye Terms - Land Sharks</p><p>Also known as sand sharks, land sharks are types of sharks native to areas with a lot of sand, mostly crystal deserts and any kind of beach. They are able to submerge themselves in sand for 25 to 27 minutes without the need to resurface for oxygen, and have sturdy fins fit for "swimming" straight through rocks. They feed on any and all crystals they come across, though they are not strangers to flesh. Any hostility found in one means they were trained and grew up that way, either by a parent or someone else. They are capable of living for up to 25 years.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Rumble in the Ruins</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Note: Hiatus for the entire month of May</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> "Dude, what the hell was your plan here!? It's dark and we can't see where we're going!"<br/>
 "My eyes are glowing. I can see."<br/>
 "Good for you! I can't!"<br/>
 Zach came to a stop and crouched in a corner, shushing Celia. <br/>
 "We can corner him in here somewhere. He gets lost, we run back to open space with that big crystal and find out where we fell and get up above!" he explained his plan, whisper-shouting.<br/>
 "We don't know what is down this path. Did you not hear the rumors in the town? This could be the tomb with all the traps and scarab!"<br/>
 Zach covered her mouth—to her irritation—as footsteps echoed throughout the chamber; slowly closing distance between them.<br/>
 Locke began to whistle. "You know, I normally wouldn't care if a few kids decided to run and hide. I could easily call my shark down 'ere and find my way out while you two wasted away. If that wouldn't work out, damn sure my teammates would find a way to help me out of here, after they got the bones you two clearly forgot you we protecting."<br/>
 The duo paused. He was right. These fossils could very well change history and they ran away from the excavation. And now they were trapped underground Celia felt around for a rock, eventually finding one and throwing it forward, hoping to send Locke away from them. Surely enough, sparks flew from the point of impact where their foe attacked with his chain. Footsteps continued that way.<br/>
 Celia crouched behind a larger rock, yanking Zach towards her. "We need to go back."<br/>
 "And whats wrong with my plan?" Zach questioned.<br/>
 "Look, we have all the time in the world to argue once we get above ground."<br/>
 "But-"<br/>
 "This isn't a game!" She harshly whispered. "This isn't a cartoon! This is real, Zach! It isn't one of your damn stories where everything goes as planned. It wasn't at Akala, it wasn't at the carnival, it wasn't on any of our other missions, and it isn't now. We got lucky with the results twice in a row already, and I'm... we're not risking it. Now let's. Go."<br/>
 Their debate capped off with the rock they hid behind shattering to pieces.<br/>
 "You brats just dunno when to stay quiet, eh?"<br/>
 Zach reached his hand out, but Celia wasn't there. He tried to activate Crystal Eyes, but without so much as a flicker in return, Zach was rendered blind by the dark corridor. He narrowly dodged an attack that would have hit his foot just by wearily stepping forward. <br/>
 "Hesitation is gonna get me killed, here. I gotta move," He thought to himself.<br/>
 A loud ringing echoed in his head, followed by a familiar voice.<br/>
 "I leave you alone for a few minutes and you've gone and done all this to yourself, huh?<br/>
 "Lucy," he acknowledged. He ran in the direction he came from in an attemotnto distance himself from Locke.<br/>
 "If you're willing to come to an agreement with me, I could help you out here."<br/>
 "How?"<br/>
 "Allow me to show you."<br/>
 Locke pulled out a gun and prepared to fire, but paused when two cyan circles resembling eyeballs revealed themselves, and stared him down like a pair of eyeballs.<br/>
 "Is it that speedy kid?" He shot aimlessly in attempt to intimate him, but the eyes didn't move.<br/>
 The wendigo claw sword hit the sand ground in silence, as Zach seemingly appeared right in front of Locke and uppercut Locke. The force shot him through the rocky cage of the hallway and into a new room, lit up by another large crystal in a corner. <br/>
 Locke gathered himself and shot twice straight at Zach, who stood in the hole he made. Zach simply ducked and dived into the chamber, tackling Locke and delivering an onslaught of punches. The bandit struggled to get the berserker off him, and when he did threw him into a wall, with considerably less force than when Zach did.<br/>
 "Did he do some drugs in the dark? Where the hell is all this energy coming from?" Locke looked at his arm, noticing that it continued to bleed, with a purple crystal chipping off from the blood.<br/>
 With ease, Zach picked up one of the coffins that lined the room, hopped forward, and smashed it into Locke. It shattered to pieces, beetles flying out from it. He then hopped back towards the crystal and broke a piece off, crushing it in his right hand and causing it to bleed. Allowing the remaining shards to shatter on the hard ground, he rushed forward again and shot his palm into Locke's shoulder, a jagged shard piercing out of Zach's flesh entering Locke's. He screamed in pain.<br/>
 Celia, still in the dark except for a lone small piece crystal in her hand lighting the way, noticed some beetles fly past.<br/>
 "That was where Locke was..." She had assumed Zach would find his own way out of the cave. He was bright enough to retrace his steps. But now that she looked behind her, she also found a brighter light coming from that very same direction. She swat away at beetles as she marched that way again.<br/>
 Zach was no longer in the catacombs of the past, and in the open field once more.<br/>
 He sat alone at the table, Lucy in his previous spot staring into the sky, laughing.<br/>
 "<em>What the hell are you doing?</em>"<br/>
 Lucy didn't turn around. "Helping."<br/>
 "<em>I doubt I would be bleeding if it was help. You possessed me or something.</em>"<br/>
 "Are you asking or stating it?"<br/>
 Zach jumped up from the chair and swung at Lucy. Though she now appeared behind him.<br/>
 Zach swiveled around and tried to kick her, but the same thing happened again. And again. He repeatedly attacked the mysterious woman but to no avail. Not a single fist or foot connected, except for his last, where Lucy caught a lazily thrown hand. Zach stared at her, and to his astonishment, her eyes were bright blue. The very same blue as his Crystal Eyes. He wasted no time trying to activate them, yet not a flicker responded.<br/>
 "Just noticing?" In an instant Zach was far into the sky, Lucy's fist digging deep into his stomach. He let out a delayed cough, the knock back from her punch somehow never occurring. He just fell down and landed on the table. This time, he noticed something. <br/>
 "<em>Those punches seemed like they hurt, but not at all... and I'm not bleeding here like how I am out there—because this is my mind!</em>"<br/>
 "You also forget that your thoughts are broadcasted here, Zachy." Lucy descended from the clouds.<br/>
 "<em>Crystal Eyes!</em>" They lit up this time. Zach jumped into the air quickly and kicked Lucy, knocking her back towards the ground. She stopped her plummet and smirked. <br/>
 "I think I've done enough damage for now."<br/>
 "<em>Running away cause I figured out your tricks?</em>"<br/>
 "No. Not all of them anyways." She slyly pointed her whole arm into the sky, pointing at nothing directly. "By the way, head up there at your own risk." She bowed and burst into a red fog that spread across the whole field, engulfing Zach and waking him up.<br/>
 He came too with Locke pinned against a wall, unconscious, rugged breaths and tattered clothing ruined even more. He let go of him with trembling hands and a pounding headache. Zach fell to the ground of the oddly wet chamber, gasping for air.<br/>
 Celia stumbleed into the room. She hastily spotted her brother, pulling his uninjured arm over her shoulder. She then noticed something by Locke. A crack in the wall, with water spurting out fast. She tapped her foot, water splashing. She had to escape, fast.<br/>
 They slowly walked towards the exit. Before Celia could fully step out, a chain wrapped around her leg. She turned back and saw Locke holding out his end of the weapon, struggling to even maintain the grip.<br/>
 "You... bastard... children... aren't getting... away!" <br/>
 Zach stomped on the chain forcefully, the motion yanking Locke forward and slamming his head on the ground.<br/>
 The crack in the wall spread, and a whole hole appeared too. Water flooded the room faster than ever, and the door Zach and Celia were at began to shut, gears not visible to them clicking and clacking in walls. They tried to get to the door quickly, but Zach's limping slowed them down enough to where they could no longer walk or dive through.<br/>
 Frantically they searched for another option. <br/>
 "Celia, look," Zach nodded towards a lever in the top corner of the room. Celia leaned Zach against a rock near the crystal. He stared into the light of the previously large object, currently chipped down to half its size. Celia balanced on the top, jumped into the air and pulled the lever.<br/>
 Gears began to shift once more. More cracks in the walls emerged, and the water filled enough to the point where Locke floated in it. It slowly raised. Zach began to float too. <br/>
 Then a hole in the wall opened underwater. It quickly flushed the water out of the room, along with Locke and Zach, who no longer had the strength to swim out. Celia dived into the water after him.</p>
<hr/><p> The dragon bones had been successfully salvaged. They had all been transported to a facility already. <br/>
 High in the sky, a helicopter took off with the bandits. Dr. Alloy discussed the matter with the foreman.<br/>
 "I know for sure we had hired a team to watch over us from above in case something had happened."<br/>
 "They were young, I'm assuming. Kids probably ran off into town thinking things would be fine down-"<br/>
 Paulie ran up to the duo, out of breath. "Dad! There's a bunch of water coming from that way!" He pointed towards the side of the crater they all stood that was in the direction of Scarab-Top. The rocks had lines running everywhere, water spilling from them.<br/>
 "Everybody back up," Dr. Alloy commanded. Scientists, paleontologists, and everyone else made way for the rocks to split apart almost like a door, water splashing out along with three people.<br/>
 Locke rolled towards a scientist. He screamed.<br/>
 "He's still breathing. Calm down." Celia held onto Zach, who also was breathing, and also unconscious.<br/>
 Citrus stepped forward, pressing a button on her device. "I called the helicopter back for the bandit. This must be the leader they had mentioned."<br/>
 Paulie walked over to Celia and Zach. "I'll carry him over to the medical tent... if you don't mind, of course.<br/>
 Celia hesitantly stood, looking back between Paulie and Zach. She nodded.<br/>
 They positioned him on Paulie's back. Paulie smiled being able to help with something, and walked away. Citrus and Dr. Alloy smiled at him.<br/>
 Celia still stood fidgety, aware of the eyes still on her. Citrus leaned down to her. "Why don't we change you out of the wet clothes and into something more comfortable?"<br/>
 "You don't have to talk to me like a kid—but that would be nice."</p>
<hr/><p><br/>
 "I'll be waiting." Zach had told Celia this in an impromptu cast and pale skin. He disappeared into the magic train station.<br/>
 After the police that arrived via helicopter questioned Celia on what had happened, she sat at a cafe in Scarab-Top with Paulie and Citrus, spending free time before she went home recuperating from the rumble in the ruins.<br/>
 "So... how are things?" Paulie awkwardly broke the silence. He felt Celia and Citrus both look at him. "Uh, sorry, that was dumb..."<br/>
 Celia contemplated. The police now know she lied about being an exploration team multiple times before. Zach seems off and has a few broken bones. And the last thing she said to him before things had gone south was an insult to his mindset.<br/>
 She sipped her coffee. Bitter. "Things have never been worse, and yet something tells me this isn't quite over."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Crystal Eye Profiles: Paul Crescere Alloy</p><p>A shy young boy struggling to choose to follow in the footsteps of his father or friend.<br/>Age: 15<br/>Birthday: December 2nd<br/>Hobbies: History, building machines<br/>Pink hair, white long sleeved shirt with blue button down shirt on top, blue sweatpants with a black stripe on the sides. Grey goggles.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Interlude 1 - Happenings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This interlude chapter can be skipped entirely without missing any plot elements. I recommend reading however so later stories have a bit more substance to them.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> "Hey Celia, what are we doing here? Aren't we on hiatus until June?"</p><p> "<strong>June 4th</strong> to be exact." She... winked at you. "Anyways, we figured we should give you guys a preview for what we got cooking!"</p><p> "But that ruins the surprise! Let's just be really vague about what happens next. For example, I'm dying!"</p><p> "I... don't think you know what vague means. But yeah, something like that.</p><p> "Oh! And the exploration team exams are coming up!"</p><p> "Thank goodness for those. We can actually go by Crystal Eye again, and this time officially."</p><p> "Why can't we can't now?"</p><p> "This part isn't canon Zach, you don't have to pretend." </p><p> "I have no idea what you mean."</p><p> "Anyways, not like we can form an entire team with 2 people. Also, a few of our old foes return!"</p><p> "You know you've made it when you get mortal enemies."</p><p> "And you know you made it when you get 50 hits on your series! Thanks for that everyone!</p><p> "Are we working on the kudos yet?"</p><p> "Don't be greedy." Celia kicked him in the shin, then turned back to you. "We're working hard to get these next chapters out to you. In June, <strong>updates will be weekly</strong>, wrapping up an entire arc within a month!"</p><p> "We hope to see you then!"</p>
<hr/><p> Two anthropomorphic rabbits hid against the wall of a cottage. They peaked around the corner, looking on at goblins entering the small town lit by moonlight.<br/>
 "Did we evacuate everyone?"<br/>
 "Yep! Everyone's in the cave, sherif!"<br/>
 "Pipe down. And you know I hate that name. The money?"<br/>
 "Also secure."<br/>
 "Neato. Let's get going, I left a nasty surprise for those dummies, and as much as I would love to see them burn, I enjoy living amongst crazy people." The so called sherif grabbed a match, lit it by rubbing it against the bricks of the house, and lit a trail of gunpowder leading to the fountain in the plaza. The rabbit snickered at the goblins.<br/>
 "Book it!"</p>
<hr/><p> Luna Carnival had been around for 5 days. It was time to pack up and move to a new location.<br/>
 In her office, Luna's phone began ringing. She left the paperwork on her desk and scooted over to the phone using her office chair. After having admittedly too much fun spinning around, she at last picked up the phone.<br/>
 "Hello. This is Luna of Luna Carnival. How may I help you? Barring refunds, which we do not have a service for at the moment.<br/>
 "You bet I want a refund... on those gravity gauntlets!"<br/>
 "L-Leon!?"<br/>
 "How are you, little sis? Barring the gauntlets."<br/>
 "You heard about those, huh? I'm really sorry. They were important and I screwed up..."<br/>
 "Dont worry, I'm not mad. I called because I had a question about those kids that were there on the news, actually..."<br/>
 "Crystal Eye?"<br/>
 "...Sure. They appeared on the news again for something in the desert. Nothing good. I wanted to ask you what you know about them."<br/>
 "Go ahead."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>A few things to note here</p><p>1. Previous chapters will receive updates for spelling errors soon after this uploads!</p><p>2. I'm taking a break primarily because of school, but I am still able to write in my free time, as such I was able to make this as well as finish 2 of the 4 chapters planned to release next month. </p><p>3. If you like what you're reading, do not be afraid to drop a comment and/or a kudos! It really helps motivate me more to get these out to you guys asap.</p><p>Thats all, see you in June!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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